Which family ruled Florence for three centuries from 1434? View the step-by-step solution to: Which family ruled Florence for three centuries from 1434? This question was answered on May 30, 2016. View the Answer Which family ruled Florence for three centuries from 1434? listone3 posted a question · May 30, 2016 at 3:58pm Top Answer It is called Medici... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29827118) ]} rapidd answered the question · May 30, 2016 at 4:07pm Other Answers Here is the solution... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29827013) ]} Here's the explanation you needed for... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29827020) ]} The way to answer this question is ...

View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29827022) ]} opiyopinto answered the question · May 30, 2016 at 4:00pm The family Medici' The House of Medici was an Italian banking family, political dynasty and laterroyal house that... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29827120) ]} Feloo answered the question · May 30, 2016 at 4:07pm The Medici family, Explanation The Medici family, also known as the House of Medici, first attained wealth and political... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(29827152) ]} What was the name of the family that ruled Florence for three centuries from 1434? View the step-by-step solution to: What was the name of the family that ruled Florence for three centuries from 1434? This question was answered on Jun 16, 2016. View the Answer What was the name of the family that ruled Florence for three centuries from 1434?

coleyangel posted a question · Jun 16, 2016 at 5:32am Top Answer Attached is a detailed explanation... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(30173227) ]} prof-Thiga answered the question · Jun 16, 2016 at 5:33am Other Answers Here's the explanation you needed for... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(30173228) ]} The family was House of Medici.The family was... View the full answer {[ getNetScore(30186911) ]} the name of one article on Bernie Sanders and Socialism? Using this article, answer he following questions: Do you believe Bernie Sanders is a socialist? Is Recently Asked Questions 6 History experts found online! Average reply time is less than an hour Get Homework Help Why Join Course Hero? Course Hero has all the homework and study help you need to succeed! We’ve got course-specific notes, study guides, and practice tests along with expert tutors and customizable flashcards—available anywhere, anytime. - - Study Documents Find the best study resources around, tagged to your specific courses.

Share your own to gain free Course Hero access or to earn money with our Marketplace. - Question & Answers Get one-on-one homework help from our expert tutors—available online 24/7. Ask your own questions or browse existing Q&A threads. Satisfaction guaranteed! - Flashcards Browse existing sets or create your own using our digital flashcard system. A simple yet effective studying tool to help you earn the grade that you want! 'Inside the Gates' of Kirkeby Mansion - latimes 'Inside the Gates' of Kirkeby Mansion July 17, 1986 |MARY LOU LOPER | Times Staff Writer The extraordinary Bel-Air Kirkeby Mansion, the beloved home of the late Carlotta and Arnold Kirkeby, is getting every bit of the attention it deserves. Next Thursday the CHIPS (Colleague Helpers in Philanthropic Service) lead off with a major fund-raiser "Inside the Gates," giving benefactors a chance to thrill at the vistas and the mansion, restored to all its grandeur by Los Angeles' top designers. Offspring Carla Kirkeby and her brother Arnold C. Kirkeby are the generous instigators. The prestigious Pratesi Linens Co.

will associate with Harry Winston Inc. for a jewel of an event, creating what's called "the first annual Pratesi Exhibition House Tour." But, this is double time: CHIPS will host the afternoon guided tour of the estate, including the informal presentation of Dede Pratesi's new collection of imported lingerie. Carla and Arnold will host tea dancing in the ballroom for those intrepid tourists with stamina after covering the 25 exhibits on the 6 1/2-acre estate. Then, the following Friday night, July 25, Elizabeth Taylor and the Athos Pratesis host an evening tour of the estate followed by a dinner dance honoring Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. That's a $1,000-per-couple event to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Design luminaries from different worlds are participating in the two-day affair. Creating a series of exhibition rooms and tableaux are Kalef Alaton, Tom Buckley, Geraldine Chutuk, Lawn Clark, Susan Cohen, Waldo Fernandez, Gail Hardesty, Jarrett Hedborg, Georgia Johnston, Barbara Lockhart, William H.

Maguire, Jane Kirkeby, Stephen Tomar, Stuart Lampert, Pasquale Vazzana and more. Arnold Ashkenazy is loaning Van Gogh, Dufy and Laurencin paintings from the Ashkenazy Collection. Display artists Pierre of Pratesi and Ron Basford of Gumps will create visual presentations of Pratesi bed, table and kitchen linens. Famous for their silk sheets, the Pratesis are sending antique linens from Milan for the occasion. In the library and private study, decorated by Jack Lowrance, Harry Winston rare jewels will be shown. Florist David Jones will create settings. The Kirkeby Estate, considered by some to be the finest in Los Angeles, boasts a fascinating history. It was designed in the '30s by architect Sumner Spaulding for Lynn Atkinson, the engineer who built Boulder Dam. He adored the house, but the story goes that Mrs. Atkinson took an instant dislike to the place and refused to move in. During a low spot, Atkinson settled a gambling debt with hotel magnate Kirkeby, giving him the mansion in lieu of cash.

The Kirkebys lived there happily from 1945 until Carlotta's death six months ago. Mrs. Robert (Justine Bloomingdale), CHIPS president, is heading her list of invitations with founding members of the Colleagues, who held their first Glamour Sale in the ballroom. Among those expected are Betsy Bloomingdale, Eleanore Colt, Billie Converse, Marji Brandeis, Onnalee Doheny, Louise Good, Ginny Milner, Erlenne Sprague and Jeanne Trousdale. CHIPS (they support the Children's Institute International) guiding tours (due to Bel-Air parking restrictions, guests will be shuttled from UCLA) will be Kathryn Klinger Belton, Vici Billings, Kathy Caldwell, Serena Caroll, Susan Gray, Wendy Stark Gorsuch, Marcia Hobbs, Elizabeth Flynn Jennings, Deborah Lanni, Carolyn Murphy Milner, Victoria Mouradian, Phyllis Riddell, Lyn Vandegrift and Narcissa Cox Vanderlip.

Among those joining Miss Taylor for her benefit will be Sheldon Andelson, Warren Beatty, the Phil Donohues, David Geffen, George Hamilton, Barbra Streisand, Abigail Van Buren, and from New York, Ronald Winston, the Claude Saujets and Count Enrico Carimati de Carimate. The Medici were an Italian family that ruled Florence and later Tuscany for more than three centuries (1434-1737), and they were known as patrons of the arts, giving commissions and friendship to artistic geniuses of the Renaissance. At the Medici Awards of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce 450 black-tie guests dined beneath the moon and stars the other evening in the balm of the Huntington Library Art Gallery terrace and paid tribute to modern-day Medici in Los Angeles. Eli Broad, whose own company, Kaufman and Broad, won a Medici in 1985, was in the spotlight as chairman, happily noting the growth of the dinner from 250 last year to 450 this year.

And Charlton Heston, the man who's "played three Presidents, three saints and two geniuses" (his pen and ink sketches have also been exhibited in New York), saluted the 1986 recipients: The Medici Family - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com The Medici Family A+E Networks Introduction The Medici family, also known as the House of Medici, first attained wealth and political power in Florence in the 13th century through its success in commerce and banking. Beginning in 1434 with the rise to power of Cosimo de’ Medici (or Cosimo the Elder), the family’s support of the arts and humanities made Florence into the cradle of the Renaissance, a cultural flowering rivaled only by that of ancient Greece. The Medicis produced four popes (Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV and Leon XI), and their genes have been mixed into many of Europe’s royal families. The last Medici ruler died without a male heir in 1737, ending the family dynasty after almost three centuries.

Google Birth of the Medici Dynasty The Medici story began around the 12th century, when family members from the Tuscan village of Cafaggiolo emigrated to Florence. Through banking and commerce, the Medicis rose to become one of the most important houses in Florence. Their influence had declined by the late 14th century, however, when Salvestro de’ Medici (then serving as gonfaliere, or standard bearer, of Florence) was forced into exile. Did You Know? When Cosimo I (1519-1574) moved the Florentine administrative offices into a building known as the Uffizi, he also established a small museum. The building is now the site of Florence's famed Uffizi Gallery, home to many of the great Renaissance-era treasures amassed by the Medicis since the time of Cosimo the Elder. Another branch of the family, descended from Salvestro’s distant cousin Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici, would begin the great Medici dynasty.

Giovanni’s elder son, Cosimo (1389-1464), rose to political power in 1434 and ruled Florence as an uncrowned monarch for the rest of his life. Known to history as Cosimo the Elder, he was a devoted patron of the humanities, supporting artists such as Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello and Fra Angelico. During Cosimo’s time, as well as that of his sons and particularly his grandson, Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492), Renaissance culture flourished, and Florence became the cultural center of Europe. The Descendants of Cosimo de’ Medici Lorenzo was a poet himself, and supported the work of such Renaissance masters as Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo (whom the Medicis commissioned to complete their family tombs in Florence). After Lorenzo’s premature death at the age of 43, his eldest son Piero succeeded him, but soon infuriated the public by accepting an unfavorable peace treaty with France. After only two years in power, he was forced out of the city in 1494, and died in exile.

Thanks in part to the efforts of Piero’s younger brother Giovanni (a cardinal at the time and the future Pope Leo X), the Medici family was able to return to Florence in 1512. The next few years marked the high point of Medici influence in Europe, as Leo X followed in his father’s humanistic footsteps and devoted himself to artistic patronage. Piero’s son, also named Lorenzo, regained power in Florence, and his daughter Catherine (1519-1589) would become queen of France after marrying King Henry II; three of her four sons would rule France as well. A New Medici Branch Comes to Power By the early 1520s, few descendants of Cosimo the Elder remained. Giulio de’ Medici, the illegitimate son of Lorenzo the Magnificent’s brother Giuliano, abdicated power in 1523 to become Pope Clement VII, and the short and brutal rule of Alessandro (reputed to be Giulio’s own illegitimate son) ended with his assassination in 1537. At this point, the descendants of Cosimo the Elder’s brother (known as Lorenzo the Elder) came forward to launch a new Medici dynasty.

Lorenzo’s great-great-grandson Cosimo (1519-1574) became duke of Florence in 1537, then grand duke of Tuscany in 1569. As Cosimo I, he established absolute power in the region, and his descendants would rule as grand dukes into the 1700s. Cosimo’s elder son Francis succeeded his father, but proved a less effective ruler. His daughter Marie would become queen of France when she married Henry IV in 1600; her son would rule as Louis XIII from 1610-43. Francis’ younger brother Ferdinand, who became grand duke in 1587, restored Tuscany to stability and prosperity. He also founded the Villa Medici at Rome and brought many priceless works of art to Florence. The Medici Dynasty in Decline In general, the later Medici line renounced the older generation’s republican sympathies and established more authoritarian rule, a change that produced stability in Florence and Tuscany but led to the region’s decline as a cultural hub.

After Ferdinand’s son Cosimo II (who supported the work of the mathematician, philosopher and astronomer Galileo Galilei ) died in 1720, Florence and Tuscany suffered under ineffectual Medici rule. When the last Medici grand duke, Gian Gastone, died without a male heir in 1737, the family dynasty died with him. By agreement of the European powers (Austria, France, England and the Netherlands), control over Tuscany passed to Francis of Lorraine, whose marriage to Hapsburg heiress Maria Theresa of Austria would begin the long European reign of the Hapsburg-Lorraine family. Tags HISTORY OF THE MEDICI List of subjects | Sources | Feedback HISTORY OF THE MEDICI HISTORY OF THE MEDICI Enjoy the Famous Daily Merchant princes: 13th - 15th century The Medici are the first princely dynasty to win their status not by warfare, marriage or inheritance but through commerce. They come to Florence in the 12th century from the nearby countryside. Their ancestral home is in the Mugello valley. During the next two centuries the family, amassing a fortune through banking and trade, begins also to play a prominent part in Florence's political life.

As yet the Medici are merely one among several similarly influential families. Their special status derives from the activities in the early 15th century of Giovanni - known as Giovanni di Bicci. Giovanni di Bicci increases the Medici wealth to unprecedented levels. He also uses it discreetly for political purposes in a manner which will be perfected by his son, Cosimo. Cosimo de' Medici earns for himself the posthumous title pater patriae ('father of the fatherland'). It acknowledges his great contribution to the enhanced status of Florence. But it also contains, to modern ears, a hint of the method behind his power - with its echo of a mafia godfather. Cosimo never occupies an official position as head of state. He remains a private citizen, running affairs by a network of behind-the-scenes alliances which benefit his own faction and ruin his enemies. Pater patriae: 1434-1464 From 1434 Cosimo de' Medici is unmistakably the most powerful man in Florence, even though his family's cause has suffered a severe setback in the previous year. In 1433 he is arrested by a rival faction.

Bribes and well-placed friends save him from death. He is exiled for ten years, but from Venice he controls a Florentine party working for his return. It is only a year before they succeed. Cosimo is invited back, and his rivals are banished - more effectively - for life. During a reign of 30 years, Cosimo uses his fortune to maintain absolute control over the internal affairs of Florence. Opponents find themselves squeezed to financial extinction. Within the city this control is discreet. Outside, in relations with other powers, it is generally acknowledged that Cosimo is the ruler of Florence - by now a city state of considerable significance. The expansion of Florentine control over the surrounding region accelerates before and during Cosimo's lifetime. Arezzo falls to a Florentine army in 1384. Pisa, a great prize, is taken in 1406. Livorno, of immense value as a seaport, is purchased in 1421. These expansionist tendencies are mirrored by similar appetites in powerful neighbours to the north, Milan and Venice.

Of the two Milan, at the turn of the century, is the more aggressive under the leadership of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. In 1402 Gian Galeazzo 's sudden death saves Florence at the last moment from attack and probable capture by a Milanese army. Four decades later, under Cosimo's leadership, Florence has her revenge. The Visconti are decisively defeated at Anghiari in 1440. The defeat of the Milanese at Anghiari is soon followed by the end of the Visconti dynasty. The next ruler in Milan (from 1450) is a soldier of fortune, Francesco Sforza. Cosimo de' Medici now reverses the previous Florentine policy and makes an alliance with Milan (Sforza happens also to be a customer of the Medici bank). This is practical diplomacy between calculating statesmen. The encroachments of Venice are now seen by both rulers as the main threat in northern Italy. Cosimo is interested in maintaining a balance of power between the Italian states, enabling commerce and the arts of peace to flourish in Florence. In this policy he is remarkably successful.

City of learning: 15th century Florentine leadership in the arts is well established by the time of Cosimo's rise to power in 1434. His patronage brings much work to the city's painters, sculptors and architects. But he also greatly encourages another strand of the Renaissance in which Florence plays a major role - the scholarship of humanism . This city, in which Petrarch first inspires Boccaccio with a love of the classics in 1350, already has a clear distinction in this field. Cosimo, who develops a passion for scholarly studies, has a firm foundation to build upon. Cosimo founds three libraries in Florence, the greatest of them being the collection of books and manuscripts now known as the Laurentian library (because it is housed next to the church of San Lorenzo). It is during these same years that Cosimo's friend, the humanist pope Nicholas V , establishes the Vatican library. The interest of both men extends beyond the Roman theme of the early Renaissance. They are fascinated also by the ideals of ancient Greece, and in particular by the philosophy of Plato . Reliable manuscripts of Plato first become available in the west during Cosimo's lifetime.

They are brought from Constantinople by Greek Orthodox churchmen and by Byzantine scholars, whose city is now under increasing threat from the Turks . In 1439 Florence has first-hand experience of these eastern scholars. At Cosimo's invitation, a council of the church moves from Ferrara to Florence to continue a debate between Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox clerics on their long-standing doctrinal differences . The rival churches eventually fail to agree. But the interest of Cosimo and of Florence in Greek culture is increased by the encounter. Towards the end of his life Cosimo conceives a personal ambition to read all the works of Plato. He commissions their translation into Latin by a Florentine scholar, Marsilio Ficino. In 1462 he establishes an informal Platonic Academy in Florence, with Ficino at its head. Ficino's Latin translation of the complete works of Plato is published in Florence in 1484, too late for Cosimo himself. But with the texts now widely available, Plato gradually recovers the leading role in philosophy which has been held since the time of Aquinas by Aristotle.

Lorenzo the Magnificent: 1469-1492 Cosimo de' Medici dies in 1464. He is succeeded for five years by his son Piero, on whose death the leading citizens of Florence invite Piero's son Lorenzo, aged only twenty, to occupy the same informal position as ruler of the city. Lorenzo accepts what seems now almost a hereditary role. But he lacks his grandfather's skill either in running the family bank or in using his wealth to neutralize opposing factions. The result, in 1478, is a conspiracy which nearly ends his rule. A plot against Lorenzo and his younger brother Guiliano is hatched by a dangerous coalition. The conspirators include the Pazzi family (rival bankers), the archbishop of Pisa (a city restless under Florentine control) and a nephew of the pope, Sixtus IV. The pope has recently transferred the papal account from the Medici bank to the Pazzi and would prefer a more docile ruler in Florence. The plot involves sacrilege and murder. The Medici brothers are to be struck down as they kneel before the altar during high mass in the cathedral in Florence.

The signal for the assassination is to be the raising of the host. In the event Giuliano is killed by one of the Pazzi clan, but Lorenzo escapes with a wound after fighting his way out of the cathedral. Florence remains loyal to the Medici. The conspirators are rounded up. By nightfall three of the Pazzi, together with the archbishop of Pisa in his ecclesiastical attire, are hanging from windows of Florence's government building, the Signoria. But this is not the end of the crisis. The pope excommunicates Lorenzo de' Medici and persuades the king of Naples, Ferdinand I, to mount an expedition against Florence. During 1479 war drags painfully on, with losses of territory and the expense of maintaining a mercenary army in the field. In December 1479 Lorenzo takes a step so bold that it would justify in itself the phrase by which history knows him - Lorenzo the Magnificent (in reality Il Magnifico is a title given quite commonly at the time to non-princely rulers of states). He travels secretly with a small party to Naples, placing himself recklessly in the king's power.

He argues to Ferdinand I that warfare between Italian powers increases the likelihood of a French invasion (the French claim upon Naples ). Ferdinand is by now weary of a campaign more in the pope's interest than his own. Lorenzo returns to Florence with a peace treaty. For the remaining twelve years of Lorenzo's life, Florence is stable and calm. But his proudest achievement, he writes in 1489, is an event of that year which could only have happened during the Renaissance papacy. He persuades the pope (by now Innocent VIII) to make his second son Giovanni a cardinal. Giovanni is thirteen. In the long run Lorenzo is proved right. This event is of great significance in the Medici story. Giovanni becomes the first of two Medici popes, as Leo X , and the link with Rome greatly benefits the family. But in the shorter term, almost immediately after Lorenzo's death in 1492, the family fortunes crumble. Piero and the exile of the Medici: 1492-1494 Lorenzo's son Piero is twenty in 1492 when he succeeds, without opposition, to his father's position of leadership in Florence.

Lorenzo's relative inattention to the family bank means that Piero is the first Medici to attempt to control Florence without an ample supply of funds. And he lacks his father's diplomatic skills. Early in his reign he shows signs of abandoning Lorenzo's equal-handed relationship with Naples and Milan, inclining instead to Naples. Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, fears a shift in the balance of power. He invites the king of France to march through his territory and to claim the Angevin throne of Naples . The approach of the French king, Charles VIII, proves a disaster for Florence. Charles VIII crosses the Alps in September 1494 with a massive army of 30,000 men. They pass peacefully through the territory of Milan and no doubt expect to do the same through Florence's Tuscan lands. France's quarrel is only with Naples. But Florence has been recently identified as an ally of Naples. Sensing a crisis, the young Piero de' Medici imitates his father's famous act of personal diplomacy (his visit in 1479 to the king of Naples).

Without informing the signoria, the official government of Florence, Piero makes his way to the camp of the French king. In this encounter between two inexperienced young rulers, both in their early twenties, the Frenchman has the better of the bargain. Charles VIII emphasizes that all he wants is an assurance of Florence's good will, but adds that a convincing token of this would be the delivery into French hands of several key castles together with the ports of Pisa and Livorno. The records suggest that the French are astonished when Piero agrees. So, when they hear of it, are the signoria in Florence. They protest that Piero has no authority to cede these Florentine possesssions, but it is too late. The French enter Florence and occupy Pisa (glad to be rid of the Florentine yoke) before moving on south. When Piero returns to Florence, he is summoned to appear before the signoria. He makes the mistake of doing so with an armed guard. The city's bell is tolled to call the people to the piazza. A mob ransacks the Medici palace. Piero and his two brothers escape from the city. It is nearly twenty years before his family returns.

Meanwhile Florence has a leader in waiting of a very different kind. The Dominican friar Savonarola is on hand to transform worldly Florence into an austere city of God. The Medici and Tuscany: 1512-1737 The fall of Savonarola, in 1498, does not bring the immediate return of the Medici. That is achieved some years later through the family's influence in Rome. In 1512 Giovanni de' Medici (of whose appointment as a boy cardinal his father Lorenzo was so proud) persuades the pope to restore the Medici to their position in Florence. They return with the help of a Spanish army. In 1513 Giovanni himself becomes pope, as Leo X. His reign lasts eight years. After a brief intervening papacy of less than two years, another Medici - a cousin of Giovanni's - is elected as Clement VII. He reigns for eleven years, to 1534. So for nineteen years out of twenty-one, during a time of turbulence and crisis in Italy , members of the Medici family occupy the papal throne and can benefit from the military support of Rome's allies - in particular Spain.

In 1527 republicans in Florence once more eject their Medici rulers. This final attempt to be rid of the family collapses in 1530 after an eleven-month siege of the city by a Spanish army. From now on there is no more pretence that this city state is a republic. In 1532 a new constitution establishes Alessandro de' Medici as the hereditary duke of Florence. The murder of Alessandro in 1537 causes the leadership of the family to be transferred in that year to Cosimo, a member of a junior branch. With his emergence, the Medici family and the city of Florence begin to acquire a new identity. In 1569 the pope creates Cosimo grand duke of Tuscany. During his reign the region, with Florence as its capital, incorporates the great prize of Siena (from 1557). The grand duchy of Tuscany now takes its place among the great dynasties of Europe. Two women, Catherine and Marie de Medici, play powerful roles on the European stage as queen consorts and regents of France.

The inheritance passes down peacefully within the ruling Medici family, to son or brother, until Gian Gastone dies without an heir in 1737. Thereafter the grand duchy becomes attached to the imperial house of Austria (by the treaty of Vienna in 1738). Florence and Tuscany undergo upheavals during the Napoleonic period , followed by restoration of the grand duchy in the early 19th century. The mid-century brings the successful struggle to be free of Austrian rule and the establishment of the independent kingdom of Italy - of which Florence is the provisional capital, from 1865, until Rome is captured in 1870. The Prince Historical Context The Prince Historical Context This section contains 645 words (approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page) View a FREE sample The Medici Family Lorenzo di Medici was a member of a family who ruled Florence for almost three centuries (1434-1737). They lost control of Florence for only a brief time (1494 to 1512) when a reform government was established to run Florence.

Machiavelli was a member of the reform government, and he lost his government post when the Medici family regained power in 1512. The Prince was written as Machiavelli's way of gaining the Medici family's favor by offering advice based on his experience in government. The first Medici came to Florence from the surrounding farmlands around the year 1200. At that time Italy was not a unified country, but a land scattered with separate, powerful, feudal cities. Florence was one of the most prominent of these city-states It is believed that the family prospered in Florence. The social class system was strictly the wealthy merchant class, known as the popolo grasso... HISTORY OF FLORENCE HISTORY OF FLORENCE Enjoy the Famous Daily The flourishing colony: 1st century BC - 1st century Fiesole, in the hills north of Florence, is an ancient stronghold of the Etruscans (whose presence in the region provides the name Tuscany). But the low-lying ground on the banks of the Arno, marshy and prone to flooding, appear not to have been properly settled until well into the Roman period.

A colony is established here in the middle of the 1st century BC for veterans of Julius Caesar's campaigns. It is referred to a few years later as Colonia Florentina - the flourishing colony. At this stage the name may have been as much a wish as a statement of fact. But a permanent bridge is built across the Arno at Florence early in the 1st century AD. Situated on the main route down the centre of Italy, linking the rich northern plains to the seat of power in Rome, Florence is well placed to flourish. But the town's real expansion, at the expense of its neigbours, does not begin until the the late Middle Ages. Fiesole is violently seized in 1125 - beginning a process of expansion which eventually absorbs the whole of Tuscany. Republican Florence: 12th - 16th century When Florence begins its territorial expansion, in the 12th century, the town - like many others in northern Italy - is governed as a commune . The Florentines resist princely rule longer than any other commune apart from Venice, not finally succumbing until the Medici are accepted as dukes of Tuscany in the 16th century.

During the four centuries of the republic, Florence is in permanent turmoil as rival classes jockey for power. The city's astonishing achievement, not untypical in Italian history, is that amid the murder and the mayhem Florence grows prosperous and produces outstanding masterpieces of literature and art. Indeed this troubled city becomes the powerhouse of the Renaissance . Florence's internal feuds are even more complex than those of other Italian cities. There is the usual clash between the nobles and the rich merchants and craftsmen of the city guilds. This struggle seems to be won by the merchants in 1282, when they pass a law restricting civic office to members of the guilds. But the nobles continue to wield great power by other means (and even return to office by the subterfuge of becoming guild members themselves). Meanwhile there is a similar struggle between the richer guilds and the lesser guilds, sometimes with the added complication of pressure from workers who are not allowed to join a guild. In 1378 there is an uprising by the Ciompi, who work for day wages in Florence's main industry, the manufacture of cloth.

On this occasion the labourers so frighten their employers that for a few weeks they are represented in the city's government - a brief experiment in something approaching democracy, until the new laws are revoked and Florence reverts to the commune's more normal oligarchy . Factions within the ruling classes are aligned in Florence, as elsewhere in medieval Italy, in terms of support for the papal or imperial parties - Guelphs versus Ghibellines . Florence inclines mainly to the papal cause (putting it at regular risk from marauding imperial armies), but even this apparent unanimity does not prevent violent factionalism. The Guelphs of Florence divide into bitterly opposed groups, the Blacks (more energetic in their support of the pope) versus the Whites. Individual lives are disrupted or cut short by these rivalries (as when Dante is exiled from Florence in 1301) but the city continues to prosper. It does so partly on wool. But Florence is also a city of bankers .

Bankers to Europe's kings: 13th - 14th century During the 13th century bankers from north Italy, collectively known as Lombards, gradually replace the Jews in their traditional role as money-lenders to the rich and powerful. The business skills of the Italians are enhanced by their invention of double-entry book-keeping . Creative accountancy enables them to avoid the Christian sin of usury ; interest on a loan is presented in the accounts either as a voluntary gift from the borrower or as a reward for the risk taken. Siena and Lucca, Milan and Genoa all profit from the new trade. But Florence takes the lion's share. Florence is well equippped for international finance thanks to its famous gold coin, the florin. First minted in 1252, the florin is widely recognized and trusted. It is the hard currency of its day. By the early 14th century two families in the city, the Bardi and the Peruzzi, have grown immensely wealthy by offering financial services. They arrange for the collection and transfer of money due to great feudal powers, in particular the papacy.

They facilitate trade by providing merchants with bills of exchange, by means of which money paid in by a debtor in one town can be paid out to a creditor presenting the bill somewhere else (a principle familiar now in the form of a cheque). The ability of the Florentine bankers to fulfil this service is shown by the number of Bardi branches outside Italy. In the early 14th century the family has offices in Barcelona, Seville and Majorca, in Paris, Avignon, Nice and Marseilles, in London, Bruges, Constantinople, Rhodes, Cyprus and Jerusalem. To add to Florence's sense of power, many of Europe's rulers are heavily in debt to the city's bankers. Therein, in the short term, lies the bankers' downfall. In the 1340s Edward III of England is engaged in the expensive business of war with France, at the start of the Hundred Years' War . He is heavily in debt to Florence, having borrowed 600,000 gold florins from the Peruzzi and another 900,000 from the Bardi. In 1345 he defaults on his payments, reducing both Florentine houses to bankruptcy.

Florence as a great banking centre survives even this disaster. Half a century later great fortunes are again being made by the financiers of the city. Prominent among them in the 15th century are two families, the Pazzi and the Medici. Florence's patrons: 1415-1430 At the time of the dominance of the Pazzi and the Medici, Florence is the pioneering centre of the Italian Renaissance. Both families are directly involved as patrons. In about 1430 Donatello produces the nude bronze of David for a Medici palace. In the same year Brunelleschi is starting work on the Pazzi chapel . These two families are not the only enlightened patrons from the world of commerce. Brancacci , who pays for Masaccio's frescoes, is a silk merchant. Florentine guilds commission Donatello to provide sculptures for Orsanmichele . The Renaissance is a passion in this city - above all, perhaps, for Cosimo de' Medici.

Pater patriae: 1434-1464 From 1434 Cosimo de' Medici is unmistakably the most powerful man in Florence, even though his family's cause has suffered a severe setback in the previous year. In 1433 he is arrested by a rival faction. Bribes and well-placed friends save him from death. He is exiled for ten years, but from Venice he controls a Florentine party working for his return. It is only a year before they succeed. Cosimo is invited back, and his rivals are banished - more effectively - for life. During a reign of 30 years, Cosimo uses his fortune to maintain absolute control over the internal affairs of Florence. Opponents find themselves squeezed to financial extinction. Within the city this control is discreet. Outside, in relations with other powers, it is generally acknowledged that Cosimo is the ruler of Florence - by now a city state of considerable significance. The expansion of Florentine control over the surrounding region accelerates before and during Cosimo's lifetime. Arezzo falls to a Florentine army in 1384. Pisa, a great prize, is taken in 1406.

Livorno, of immense value as a seaport, is purchased in 1421. These expansionist tendencies are mirrored by similar appetites in powerful neighbours to the north, Milan and Venice. Of the two Milan, at the turn of the century, is the more aggressive under the leadership of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. In 1402 Gian Galeazzo 's sudden death saves Florence at the last moment from attack and probable capture by a Milanese army. Four decades later, under Cosimo's leadership, Florence has her revenge. The Visconti are decisively defeated at Anghiari in 1440. The defeat of the Milanese at Anghiari is soon followed by the end of the Visconti dynasty. The next ruler in Milan (from 1450) is a soldier of fortune, Francesco Sforza. Cosimo de' Medici now reverses the previous Florentine policy and makes an alliance with Milan (Sforza happens also to be a customer of the Medici bank). This is practical diplomacy between calculating statesmen. The encroachments of Venice are now seen by both rulers as the main threat in northern Italy.

Cosimo is interested in maintaining a balance of power between the Italian states, enabling commerce and the arts of peace to flourish in Florence. In this policy he is remarkably successful. City of learning: 15th century Florentine leadership in the arts is well established by the time of Cosimo's rise to power in 1434. His patronage brings much work to the city's painters, sculptors and architects. But he also greatly encourages another strand of the Renaissance in which Florence plays a major role - the scholarship of humanism . This city, in which Petrarch first inspires Boccaccio with a love of the classics in 1350, already has a clear distinction in this field. Cosimo, who develops a passion for scholarly studies, has a firm foundation to build upon. Cosimo founds three libraries in Florence, the greatest of them being the collection of books and manuscripts now known as the Laurentian library (because it is housed next to the church of San Lorenzo). It is during these same years that Cosimo's friend, the humanist pope Nicholas V , establishes the Vatican library. The interest of both men extends beyond the Roman theme of the early Renaissance.

They are fascinated also by the ideals of ancient Greece, and in particular by the philosophy of Plato . Reliable manuscripts of Plato first become available in the west during Cosimo's lifetime. They are brought from Constantinople by Greek Orthodox churchmen and by Byzantine scholars, whose city is now under increasing threat from the Turks . In 1439 Florence has first-hand experience of these eastern scholars. At Cosimo's invitation, a council of the church moves from Ferrara to Florence to continue a debate between Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox clerics on their long-standing doctrinal differences . The rival churches eventually fail to agree. But the interest of Cosimo and of Florence in Greek culture is increased by the encounter. Towards the end of his life Cosimo conceives a personal ambition to read all the works of Plato. He commissions their translation into Latin by a Florentine scholar, Marsilio Ficino. In 1462 he establishes an informal Platonic Academy in Florence, with Ficino at its head. Ficino's Latin translation of the complete works of Plato is published in Florence in 1484, too late for Cosimo himself.

But with the texts now widely available, Plato gradually recovers the leading role in philosophy which has been held since the time of Aquinas by Aristotle. Ficino also translates many of the works of Neo-Platonism , including everything written by Plotinus. The result is an attempt, beginning in Florence but widely influential, to find a synthesis between Neo-Platonism and Christianity; Plato is seen as a Christian before his time. The mystical elements of Neo-Platonism become one of the major themes of Renaissance thought and art. A famous result of this influence is the work of Sandro Botticelli , who has links with Ficino and the Platonic Academy. Lorenzo the Magnificent: 1469-1492 Cosimo de' Medici dies in 1464. He is succeeded for five years by his son Piero, on whose death the leading citizens of Florence invite Piero's son Lorenzo, aged only twenty, to occupy the same informal position as ruler of the city. Lorenzo accepts what seems now almost a hereditary role. But he lacks his grandfather's skill either in running the family bank or in using his wealth to neutralize opposing factions.

The result, in 1478, is a conspiracy which nearly ends his rule. A plot against Lorenzo and his younger brother Guiliano is hatched by a dangerous coalition. The conspirators include the Pazzi family (rival bankers), the archbishop of Pisa (a city restless under Florentine control) and a nephew of the pope, Sixtus IV. The pope has recently transferred the papal account from the Medici bank to the Pazzi and would prefer a more docile ruler in Florence. The plot involves sacrilege and murder. The Medici brothers are to be struck down as they kneel before the altar during high mass in the cathedral in Florence. The signal for the assassination is to be the raising of the host. In the event Giuliano is killed by one of the Pazzi clan, but Lorenzo escapes with a wound after fighting his way out of the cathedral. Florence remains loyal to the Medici. The conspirators are rounded up. By nightfall three of the Pazzi, together with the archbishop of Pisa in his ecclesiastical attire, are hanging from windows of Florence's government building, the Signoria. But this is not the end of the crisis.

The pope excommunicates Lorenzo de' Medici and persuades the king of Naples, Ferdinand I, to mount an expedition against Florence. During 1479 war drags painfully on, with losses of territory and the expense of maintaining a mercenary army in the field. In December 1479 Lorenzo takes a step so bold that it would justify in itself the phrase by which history knows him - Lorenzo the Magnificent (in reality Il Magnifico is a title given quite commonly at the time to non-princely rulers of states). He travels secretly with a small party to Naples, placing himself recklessly in the king's power. He argues to Ferdinand I that warfare between Italian powers increases the likelihood of a French invasion (the French claim upon Naples ). Ferdinand is by now weary of a campaign more in the pope's interest than his own. Lorenzo returns to Florence with a peace treaty. For the remaining twelve years of Lorenzo's life, Florence is stable and calm. But his proudest achievement, he writes in 1489, is an event of that year which could only have happened during the Renaissance papacy.

He persuades the pope (by now Innocent VIII) to make his second son Giovanni a cardinal. Giovanni is thirteen. In the long run Lorenzo is proved right. This event is of great significance in the Medici story. Giovanni becomes the first of two Medici popes, as Leo X , and the link with Rome greatly benefits the family. But in the shorter term, almost immediately after Lorenzo's death in 1492, the family fortunes crumble. Piero and the exile of the Medici: 1492-1494 Lorenzo's son Piero is twenty in 1492 when he succeeds, without opposition, to his father's position of leadership in Florence. Lorenzo's relative inattention to the family bank means that Piero is the first Medici to attempt to control Florence without an ample supply of funds. And he lacks his father's diplomatic skills. Early in his reign he shows signs of abandoning Lorenzo's equal-handed relationship with Naples and Milan, inclining instead to Naples. Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, fears a shift in the balance of power.

He invites the king of France to march through his territory and to claim the Angevin throne of Naples . The approach of the French king, Charles VIII, proves a disaster for Florence. Charles VIII crosses the Alps in September 1494 with a massive army of 30,000 men. They pass peacefully through the territory of Milan and no doubt expect to do the same through Florence's Tuscan lands. France's quarrel is only with Naples. But Florence has been recently identified as an ally of Naples. Sensing a crisis, the young Piero de' Medici imitates his father's famous act of personal diplomacy (his visit in 1479 to the king of Naples). Without informing the signoria, the official government of Florence, Piero makes his way to the camp of the French king. In this encounter between two inexperienced young rulers, both in their early twenties, the Frenchman has the better of the bargain. Charles VIII emphasizes that all he wants is an assurance of Florence's good will, but adds that a convincing token of this would be the delivery into French hands of several key castles together with the ports of Pisa and Livorno. The records suggest that the French are astonished when Piero agrees.

So, when they hear of it, are the signoria in Florence. They protest that Piero has no authority to cede these Florentine possesssions, but it is too late. The French enter Florence and occupy Pisa (glad to be rid of the Florentine yoke) before moving on south. When Piero returns to Florence, he is summoned to appear before the signoria. He makes the mistake of doing so with an armed guard. The city's bell is tolled to call the people to the piazza. A mob ransacks the Medici palace. Piero and his two brothers escape from the city. It is nearly twenty years before his family returns. Meanwhile Florence has a leader in waiting of a very different kind. The Dominican friar Savonarola is on hand to transform worldly Florence into an austere city of God. Savonarola: 1491-1498 In 1491 Savonarola becomes prior of the Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence.

His powerful sermons, critical of decadence and luxury in both church and state (meaning papal Rome and the princely circle of the Medici) are already familiar in Florence, for he has been in the convent of San Marco on and off since 1482. In spite of his savage voice, Lorenzo the Magnificent encourages this incorruptible man of God. Contrary to rumour, Savonarola blesses Lorenzo on his deathbed in 1492. Savonarola foresees the likelihood of a French invasion , describing it as a punishment for Florence's sins. When it comes to pass in 1494, followed immediately by the exile of the Medici, the voice of the prophet is irresistible. Savonarola becomes the most powerful member of a group attempting to restore to Florence the strict virtues of republican piety. For two years the citizens of Florence, under the new regime, enjoy an unprecedented degree of democratic involvement in their own affairs. They also, for a while, share Savonarola's puritanical zeal.

A famous bonfire of vanities, during the pre-Lent carnival season in 1497, is perhaps the peak of Savonarola's influence. People bring playing cards and games of chance, personal ornaments and lewd images, to fling into the flames. But fervour begins to pall. Even more relevant, the preacher's violent attacks on the Borgia pope, Alexander VI , cannot long go unanswered. The pope makes various attempts to flatter and divert his critic, even offering him a cardinal's hat. But eventually Alexander VI resorts to traditional weapons - excommunication, charges of heresy, and the incitement of local groups in Florence hostile to Savonarola. Two hot-headed friars open the gruesome final chapter of this story. In 1498 a Franciscan challenges to an ordeal by fire anyone who would defend Savonarola. The challenge is accepted by Fra Domenico, one of Savonarola's Dominican colleagues. The Florentine crowd eagerly awaits the public spectacle. The Franciscan fails to appear, so Fra Domenico has no need to step into the fire. But with the unreason of multitudes, it is Savonarola who is criticized.

He has failed to work a miracle. The next day a mob attacks the convent of San Marco, and hauls away Savonarola and Fra Domenico. They are examined, tortured, and tried with due ecclesiastical ceremony, before eventually being hanged and burned. The Medici and Tuscany: 1512-1737 The fall of Savonarola, in 1498, does not bring the immediate return of the Medici. That is achieved some years later through the family's influence in Rome. In 1512 Giovanni de' Medici (of whose appointment as a boy cardinal his father Lorenzo was so proud) persuades the pope to restore the Medici to their position in Florence. They return with the help of a Spanish army. In 1513 Giovanni himself becomes pope, as Leo X. His reign lasts eight years. After a brief intervening papacy of less than two years, another Medici - a cousin of Giovanni's - is elected as Clement VII. He reigns for eleven years, to 1534.

So for nineteen years out of twenty-one, during a time of turbulence and crisis in Italy , members of the Medici family occupy the papal throne and can benefit from the military support of Rome's allies - in particular Spain. In 1527 republicans in Florence once more eject their Medici rulers. This final attempt to be rid of the family collapses in 1530 after an eleven-month siege of the city by a Spanish army. From now on there is no more pretence that this city state is a republic. In 1532 a new constitution establishes Alessandro de' Medici as the hereditary duke of Florence. The murder of Alessandro in 1537 causes the leadership of the family to be transferred in that year to Cosimo, a member of a junior branch. With his emergence, the Medici family and the city of Florence begin to acquire a new identity. In 1569 the pope creates Cosimo grand duke of Tuscany. During his reign the region, with Florence as its capital, incorporates the great prize of Siena (from 1557). The grand duchy of Tuscany now takes its place among the great dynasties of Europe.

Two women, Catherine and Marie de Medici, play powerful roles on the European stage as queen consorts and regents of France. The inheritance passes down peacefully within the ruling Medici family, to son or brother, until Gian Gastone dies without an heir in 1737. Thereafter the grand duchy becomes attached to the imperial house of Austria (by the treaty of Vienna in 1738). Florence and Tuscany undergo upheavals during the Napoleonic period , followed by restoration of the grand duchy in the early 19th century. The mid-century brings the successful struggle to be free of Austrian rule and the establishment of the independent kingdom of Italy - of which Florence is the provisional capital, from 1865, until Rome is captured in 1870. An Overview of the Rise of the Medici Family in Florence during the Renaissance Era | Kibin An Overview of the Rise of the Medici Family in Florence during the Renaissance Era Sign Up & Access Essays Already a member? Login here Pages: 1 This preview is partially blurred. Sign up to view the full document. Sign Up & Access Essays Already a member?

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Sign up to view the full document End of preview Upgrade to view the full document In many ways when people think about the Renaissance they think of Florence and when you think of the rise of Florence the Medici family plays a very important part of Florence s growth political power and economy Three key individuals ruled over this prosperous time for Florence the first Cosimo de Medici Lorenzo di Medici and Piero Medici each had their own power and influence over Florence The Medicis help Florence grow and reach it s potential and maintain the image we remember today Florence was regarded as leading the cultural and intellectual centre of the late fifteenth century However it was times of great suffering in 1348 about half of it s 90000 population was killed due to the Black Death and on top of that their were years of repeated famines causing more death and despair for the residents All of this led up to the Ciompi revolt of 1378 run by the poor seeking better treatment The uprising was crushed quickly and resulted in the restriction of democracy and the emergence of a few powerful ruling families Rule for the Medici family first started in 1434 with Cosimo de Medici being appointed the head of the Florence Government this started the Medici political dominance

 in Florentine politics for the next three centuries The Medici family was part of aristocracy of Florence however they were still well liked by the commoners this was because Salvestro de Medici had in part supported the Ciompi revolt A lot of the Medici family power was tied to their massive amount of wealth all of this wealth was gained banking and trade much of which was done with the papacy Financial records from that era show that the Medicis were by far the wealthiest family in Florence With this large amount of wealth Cosimo was able to contribute to the arts and literature s by giving financial support to many artists and writers this brought stability @Kibin is a lifesaver for my essay right now!!

- Sandra Slivka, student @ UC Berkeley Wow, this is the best essay help I've ever received! - Camvu Pham, student @ U of M If I'd known about @Kibin in college, I would have gotten much more sleep - Jen Soust, alumni @ UCLA THE MEDICI FAMILY THE MEDICI FAMILY Cosimo de Medici (1389-1464) INTRODUCTION While the Medici family was predominant, Florence became the cultural center of Europe and also became the cradle of new Humanism. BACKGROUND The Medici were possibly the richest family in Italy. In the 13th Century the family began to gain wealth. At the end of the thirteenth century, the family's wealth increased when one of the members of the family served as gonfalero (bearer of a high ceremonial office). In the fourteenth century their wealth increased again. Savestro de Medici led people in revolt against the ciompi (small artistanate) and later he became so popular that he became defacto dictator of Florence. Then in 1383 his wealth decreased when he was banished.

Giovanni Bicci de Medici regained family power by making the family the richest family in Italy, possibly Europe. The growth in political power also increased when he became gonfalero in 1421. Giovanni's son, Cosimo de Medici, was to be the real founder of the family's fortune. In 1434, Cosimo controlled the government in Florence. For the sixty years Cosimo ruled Florence but he had no official title. He ruled in the early 15th Century when he ran for office. He held office in Florence's highest magistry and at the same time he managed interests in banking, trade, and industry. Later on in a political battle with another powerful family called the Albizzi family, Cosimo lost and was banished. But since a lot of people supported him, he was recalled and the Albizzi family was banished in return. Cosimo had done a lot for the city of Florence. He had spent lots of his money on his city and supported artists and sculptors. Churches were built and many large libraries were produced with the books he collected. After Cosimo had died he won the title of Pater Palrige (father of his country).

Cosimo had two sons and while his first son, Pier, ruled things kind of slipped. Then once again their wealth increased because of his other powerful son named Lorenzo. Lorenzo was a poet, statsman, politician, banker, patron of artists, writer, philosopher, and he played an important role in Italian politics. He had spent some of his time writing poetry and carnival songs. Although he didn't occupy any official post, he did a lot of good things for the people. An example of one of his qualities was he paid for artists' education and supplied them with homes by buying their work. He was truly a man of the Renaissance. ACCOMPLISHMENTS One of the many accomplishments that the Medici family offered in the Renaissance period was when their wealth had first begun. One member became gonfaler standard bearer. From then on the word success fitted the Medici family well. While they ruled the city of Florence they did many incredible acts, such as spending money on their city, and making it the most powerful state in Italy. They also made it the world's most beautiful city. It became the cultural center of Europe and was known as an art center and cradle of New Humanism.

They also spent some of their wealth on having the largest library in Europe; they brought in many Greek sources. They founded the Platonic Academy and supported artists by feeding them, educating them, and providing them with the necessities. Some of those artists were Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The family also did a lot of charitable acts such as cultivating literature and the arts. The Medici family was very helpful. IMPACT The Medici family members were very interested in the rebirth of learning in Europe and under their patronage the Renaissance flourished. The Medici family tree

Question: Which family ruled Florence for three centuries from 1434?
Answer: Medici